Method of making sliced puffed stems for a cigarette filler

ABSTRACT

A method for producing a filler for tobacco products from tobacco stems is tobacco stems is disclosed, which method involves slicing the puffed stems in a plane substantially parallel to said stem axes and incorporating said sliced tobacco stems in a tobacco product. The sliced stems measure from .002 inch to .060 inches in thickness and as strips measure less than one square inch in area.

United States Patent 1 3,556,1 12

[ 1 Inventors Roger Zygmum dela Burde 50 Field of Search 131 140- Ikeja, Nigeria; .144 Leon Johnson Harris, Jr., Covington, Va.

[21] Appl. No. 815,205 I [56] References Cited Flled p 10, 1969 UNITED STATES PATENTS Continuation of Ser. No. 514,720, DecT17, 1965, abandoned, which is a continuation-inpart of Ser. No. 749,908, July 24, 1968,

720,830 2/1903 Marsden. 1,122,747 12/1914 Hammerstein. 2,739,599 3/1956 AbbOtt.

o ed.

[45] Patented Jan. 19, 1971 Primary ExaminerMelvin D. Rein [73] Assignee Philip Morris, Incorporated Attorney-Watson, Leavenworth and Kelton New York, N.Y. a corporation of Virginia ABSTRACT: A method for producing a filler for tobacco [54] METHODOF MAKING SLICED PUFFED STEMS products from tobacco stems is disclosed, which method Eggg gfissgifiif involves puffing tobacco stems, slicing the puffed stems in a plane substantially parallel to said stem axes and incorpo- [52] U.S.Cl 131/140 rating said sliced tobacco stems in a tobacco product. The [51] Int. Cl A24b 03/18, slic d stems measure from .002 inch to .060 inch in thickness A24b 07/00 and as strips measure less than one square inch in area.

1 Mr-z'rn'ouo'r MAKING sucrznfr urran STEMS FOR A C IGA'RE'ITE FILLER This is a continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 749,908, tiled Jul. 24, 19 68 which i'nturn is a continuation of application Ser. No. 514,720, filed Dec. 17, 1965, both now abandoned.

This invention relates to a method of making a tobacco product. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method for making a tobacco product adapted to be included in reconstitutedtobacco sheets.

Many methods have been employed for the preparation of reconstituted tobacco products, whereby tobacco tines, dust and midribs are combined with a binder to "form a coherent sheet which resembles leaf tobacco and which is commonly referred to as reconstituted tobacco. This reconstituted tobacco is cut to an acceptable size and included in cigarettes and cigars. It is not possible, however, "to use the reconstituted tobacco alon'eand it must be included in a cigarette with a greater proportion of natural tobacco to give an acceptable product. One of the serious difficulties encountered has been the noticeable presence of even small amounts of the tobacco stem in the final product. On occasion, sharp ends from stem pieces would puncture the cigarette paper; moreover, the humectants and plasticizers "which 'had'to be added to the reconstituted sheet to give it satisfactory mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation, noticeably changed the taste and quality of the smoking product. To overcome these objections, the tobacco stem 'rnay be treated 'to expand or puff it. The puffed tobacco stem is more workable, has more desirable chemical'and mechanical properties and, when incorporated into a reconstituted sheet, tends to more closely approximate the natural tobacco leaf. Methods for preparing puffed stems have heretofore been disclosed. For example, see US. Pat. No. 2,739,599 issued to Abbott; U.S. Pat. No. 2,344,106 issued to Reed; US. Pat. Nos. 3,409,022 and 3,409,023 issuedto de la Burde; and copending application Ser. No. 516,112, entitled Tobacco Stems Triffed By Radiant Energy and likiethod For Preparing Same, Tobacco Stems Putfed by MicrowaveEnergy and Method For Preparing Same and Process For 'Puffi'ng Tobacco Stems, respectively, and filed of even date herewith. However, puffed tobacco stems exhibit a serious drawback which "has not been appreciated in the prior art. It has been found thatif puffed stems are allowed to stand for even a short period of time after treatment, they begin to revert to their normal size; that is, they shrink from the expanded or puffed dimensions and ultimately attain the dimensions of unpuffed stems. It is believed that this characteristic is due to the springlike quality of the stem lignin. Thus, if 'no further treatment is afforded these puffed stems, many of the advantages obtainable from :puffrng' are negated. Moreover, the blending characteristics of cylindrically shaped stems, even though puffed, with the natural tobacco leaf are ndtgood. Ttis therefore an'object of the invention disclosed herein'to treat the stems soon after puffing to retain their desirable propertiesand give them better blending qualities. According to the present invention, it has been found that by slicing or shaving the puffed tobacco stem, a product is obtained which has better cutting and blending characteristics andclosely approximates the natural tobacco leaf in physical and chemical properties. The invention'entails slicing the tobacco stem much as alog is cut into board length. When prepared in this manner, the puffed stem yields a product with vastly increased filling power. Further, puffed stems, sliced or shaved on any suitable equipment'into thin baconlike slices do not shrink onexposure to moisture during cutting. They maintain their flexibility and exhibit -improved pyrolytic properties. These "slices are leaflike and therefore can be blended like leaf with tobacco "strips. In addition, when cut into strip filler, the stem is 'in the form of long'flexible fibers, shows a small amount of dust, and contains no chunks. The flexibility of the shaved puffed stem is of considerable import'ance in tobacco manufacturing because there are no hard portions to tear holes in the cigarette paper or wrapper. Further, unlike tobacco products from untreated or puffed stems not treated according to the instant invention, the product containing sliced puffed stems does not expand or swell upon burning. No blossoms or swelled spots result. The fire coal is normal and holds fire well.

The invention may be advantageously practiced as follows:

Tobacco stems, either puffed or unpuffed, but preferably puffed by any of the known methods or methods described in the above-mentioned copending application No. 516.1 12 and US. Pat. Nos. 3,409,022 and 3,409,023 are brought to a moisture content of about 4 percent to 10 percent for puffed stems 'or 6 percent to 30 percent for unpuffed stems. They are then sliced or shaved preferably in a direction parallel to their longitudinal axes to obtain long slices. The slicing or shaving operation may be accomplished by any machine suitable for the purpose such as a meat slicer, vegetable slicer, bread slicer, ice shaving machine, paper cutting machine, extruder and the like. The preferred slicing blade opening varied from about 0.020 to about 0.050 inches, the optimum being about 0.040 inches and the preferred speed of the slicing blade in lineal "feet per minute is about 1,9002,000 f.p.m. for any cutting head, the optimum being about 1,960 f.p.m. Regardless of the actual machine used, it is important for the quality of the final product that the stems be aligned with respect to the cutting blade so that flake or leaflike shavings or slices are produced. it is in this form or shape that the stems them closely approximate the physical and chemical properties of natural tobacco leaf.

The sliced puffed stems are discharged into a sifter. 1n the sifter, Large Slice, e. g., +8 mesh particle size, and Presized Fiber,"'e.g., +20 mesh particle size, strips are separated and deposited into suitable containers. The smaller of the two sizes is the result of the stems breaking in the cutter. Presized stems are so called because it is necessary to feed them separately into the tiller. The +8 mesh strip is fed in before cutting the leaf, and the +20mesh strip is fed in after the leaf has been cut into filler. Smaller fibers than +20 mesh and dust are collected by the dust collector and deposited and suitable containers to be reused.

Use of the optimum operating conditions, i.e., stem feed rate of 200 to 225 pounds per hour, a dwell time of to seconds at 360 to 380 F. and a slicing blade opening of 0.020 to 0.050 inches, preferably about 0.040 inches at 1,900- -2,000 f.p.m., preferably about 1,960 f.p.m., delivers .a product about 66 to about 69 percent of which consists of Large Slice, e.g., +8 and Presized Fiber,e.g., +20 mesh, strips. Of this usable product the ratio of the Large Slices" to the Presized Fibers." varies from about 1.3-1.4 to l to 0.5- '0.7 to 1. This ratio can be increased about 15 to 30 percent by raising the puffing temperature to 400 F., but at this temperature the stem color may be dark and undesirable.

The thickness of the sliced strip may vary from about 0.002 inch to 0.060 inch but is preferably about 0.016 inch in thickness. The area of the sliced strip isequal to or less than about 1 square inch, preferably equal to or less than about one half square inch.

The machines may of course be powered by any suitable means, for example electricity or manual power. The slicing technique described herein may be readily adapted to production line techniques by a suitable arrangement which will feed prepuffed tobacco stemsso as to shave baconlike strips from them.

The following examples are illustrative:

EXAMPLE 1 One-pound samplesof mixed bright stems puffed radiantly and by a microwave process were moistened slightly to raise their moisture content from 4-4.5 percent to 79 percent in order to prevent dusting and breakage on slicing of puffed stems. The radiantly puffed stems were prepared by exposing them to two 1,000-watt G. E. Type T quartz lamps at a distance of 3 inches for 38 seconds and the microwave puffed stems'were prepared by placing them in a Raytheon Mark V magnetron oven for 30 seconds. These stems were then cut manually with razor blades into fine slices not exceeding 0.035 inches in thickness. These slices of puffed stems were examined organoleptically by a panel of eight experts and found to have a light coloration similar to that of bright leaf, a natural taste like tobacco when chewed, and aroma characteristics of puffed stems. When these slices were examined microscopically and by volume measurements and compared against conventional sheet products, rolled puffed stems and unrolled stems, it was found that they contained fully expanded mesophyllic tissues and showed no evidence that the cells were collapsed during the slicing.

When these slices were pyrolyzed, they did not create clossoms (expansion of stems in the cigarette), burned uniformly, and delivered acceptable aroma.

EXAMPLE 2 A l-pound sample of mixed bright stems, unpuffed and puffed by high frequency electrostatic field and radiant energy and moisturized as in example 1, were sliced on the Globe Slicing Machine (Model 610) to a thickness ranging from 0.006 inch-0.060 inch, leaving corresponding controls unsliced. All samples were placed in a humidity cabinet (75 F 60 percent and 70 percent R.H.), and examined for volume changes daily. At the end of the -day period, all samples were compared and little or no shrinkage was evident in the puffed stems which had been sliced, but the unsliced puffed stems, whether puffed by high frequency electrostatic field or by radiant energy, decreased in volume. The results are shown in table 1.

By measuring the volume and filling power of 100 gm. of material, it was observed that the volume of sliced puffed stems was about three times greater than that of the unsliced controls which had collapsed. The greater filling power of the resulting filler in relation to a control sample of a known cigarette blend is shown in table 2. It is apparent that higher yields of cigarettes resulted from filler containing sliced stems.

' TABLE 2 Filling Power Average Weight of Filler Per Cigarette (gms.)

Percent by-product Sliced Reconsti- Rolled Control in the blend pufled tuted stems (Known) stems sheet blend) EXAMPLE 3 One-third of a l-pound sample of mixed bright stems, puffed as in example 1, was moisturized until a 3 percent increase in moisture content was obtained and then sliced on a Globe Slicing Machine to a thickness of 0.020 inch. This sliced product was compared with rolled and unrolled puffed stems prepared radiantly as in example I and reconstituted sheets. The sliced stems produced less than 3 percent4 percent waste in the material while the losses of other products ran up to 30 percent since these methods caused considerably solubilization or breakage and improper cuts.

EXAMPLE 4 A l-pound sample of mixed bright stems, puffed, and moisturized as in example I was sliced to a thickness of 0.0 l 2 inch and blended with bright strip and a known cigarette blend. These were compared against rolled stems and reconstituted sheets. In each of these samples of tobacco, it was found that the sliced puffed stems blended exactly like leaf and considerably better than rolled stems. In the other methods of processing puffed stems, namely the microwave and radiant processes as described in example 1, materials which had simply been cut could not, due to their physical structure, be blended uniformly with any of these tobaccos. Also, it was discovered that puffed stems processed by slicing would receive flavoring and casings more readily and uniformly due to their physical nature whereas unsliced puffed stems would not, thus causing flavor spots and modified flavors.

EXAMPLE 5 A l-pound sample of mixed bright stems, puffed and moisturized as in example 1, were sliced on a Globe Slicing Machine (Model 610) to a thickness of 0.020 inch. These shaved puffed stems were blended with bright strip and a known cigarette blend. These samples were cut approximately 35 cuts/inch as in cigarette manufacturing. The resulting filter after sieve analysis showed that sliced puffed stems which had been cut exactly like tobacco strip were uniformly distributed in the tiller. When compared to the rolled stems the instant method of slicing eliminated all the disadvantages which are rejected by cigarette making machines, such as chunks, birds eyes, or cross sections.

EXAMPLE 6 A 5-pound sample of mixed bright stems (puffed, moisturized, and sliced as in example 5) was blended with bright strip and a known cigarette blend so as to produce samples containing 10, 20, and 30 percent sliced puffed stems. Control samples containing rolled stems and homogenized leaf (reconstituted sheet) were prepared. These samples were then shredded as in cigarette manufacturing and made into cigarettes according to regular production specifications. On examination of the smoke compositions by gas chromatography, colorimetry and gravimetry, it was observed that cigarettes containing puffed stems delivered less organic gas phase, total particulate matter, and nicotine than all of the controls (table 3).

TABLE 3.O GP, TPM AND NICOTINE CONTENT Percent lay-product in filler Organic gas phase (mg/cigarette):

Sliced puffed stems 4. 0 3. 1 3. 0 Reconstituted sheet 4. 0 3. 9 4. 0 sheet 5.0 4. 6 4. 3 Control (Bright tobacco) 4. 6 4. 6 4. 6 Total particulate matter (mg/cigarette):

Sliced pufied stems 22 18 14 Reconstituted sheet. 24 23. 5 22 Rolled sheet 24 23.5 20 Control (Bright tobacco). 50 50 50 Nicotine (mg/cigarette).

Sliced pufied stems. 1.8 1. 3 95 Reconstituted shee 1. 9 1. 3 95 Rolled sheet 2. 0 1. 1. 5 Control (Bright tobacco). 2. 3 2. 3 2. 3

AThe cigarettes in most cases were judged to have more total aroma and be less harsh and more desirable. The improved yieldby use of sliced puffed stems in the manufacturing of cigarettes is demonstrated in table 4.

TABLE 4.FILLING POWER IN KNOWN CIGARETTE BLEND Percent by-product in filler Samples containing puffed stems yielded approximately %15% more cigarettes than the controls.

We claim: 1. A method for producing a filler for a tobacco product which comprises puffing tobacco stems, slicing said puffed tobacco stems in a plane substantially parallel to said stem axes into strips of less than or equal to about 1 square inch in area and from about .002 inch to about .060 inch in thickness.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product is a reconstituted tobacco sheet.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product is a cigarette.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product constitutes strips of sliced puffed tobacco stems of less than about one-half square inch in area.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the puffed stems are brought to a moisture content of about 4 percent to about 10 percent by weight prior to slicing.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product constitutes sliced puffed stem particles having particle sizes of +8 and +20 mesh in a ratio of +8 mesh to +20 mesh of about 1.3- l.4 to l to about 0.50.7 to 1. 

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product is a reconstituted tobacco sheet.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product is a cigarette.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product constitutes sTrips of sliced puffed tobacco stems of less than about one-half square inch in area.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the puffed stems are brought to a moisture content of about 4 percent to about 10 percent by weight prior to slicing.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the tobacco product constitutes sliced puffed stem particles having particle sizes of +8 and +20 mesh in a ratio of +8 mesh to +20 mesh of about 1.3-1.4 to 1 to about 0.5-0.7 to
 1. 